Heroes of Dreamland, Book 6 1/2: The Last Sakuranoki (OLD)

A Stellar Planet and A Stellar General...

"Well," Tracker replied thoughtfully as he handed her back the sketch and crossed his arms. "I'm sure we could probably find somebody to help us out at the temporary base on Popstar. There's usually a competent smithy in each camp. I just don't know if they'd be capable of working with magic glass, or even of finding some. That stuff isn't exactly easy to work with, what with the way you have to mold it instead of hammering it and such."

Nodding, Cherry agreed in a murmur, "Yeah, you're right. Magic glass isn't as easy to come by as silver or steel like what most swords are made out of."

Just then, there was a tap at the door. "Come on in, Petal," Tracker called out with a grin. "The more the merrier, right?"

Laughing a bit, Petal pushed the button to open the sliding door and stepped in. "Hey, you two. Just wanted to let you know that we're almost to Popstar. It's a really pretty planet or so I've heard, so I was thinking you might want to come take a look-see."

Shrugging, Tracker dismissed that idea with a, "I've seen planets and I've seen stars. I'm not really all that interested in looking at this one when I should be resting up before we enter a war zone."

After both of the girls rolled their eyes at the overly-practical stick-in-the-mud, Cherry eagerly nodded at Petal and then put the sketch away in her cape again before spreading her wings out and flapping after the white Star Warrior to an area of the ship that she hadn't been to yet.

"This is our tiny observation dome," Petal informed her as she led her into a small round room with a glass dome for the roof and the upper part of three of the walls. There was also a couple of folding metal chairs folded up and propped up against one of the walls and a single mostly-bare steel bookshelf with two simple red metal bookends on it bolted to the wall. "I guess you could also sort of call it the rec-room. I don't ever spend much time in this area of the ships."

Cherry looked around in awe at the stars and everything else that was seeming to lazily float by outside the dome and remained silent for a couple of minutes. After picking out a couple of her favorite constellations, she went on to wonder aloud, "So where's Popstar at?"

Leaning against a windowsill-like outcropping that ran around the edge of the dome, Petal explained, "It'll show up in the left sector of the dome in about... two or three minutes. Once we get a visual, we'll be there pretty quick."

"Cool," Cherry murmured as she flew over to that part of the glass bowl-like structure and landed on the sill before placing her hands on the glass to balance her. "So you've never been to Popstar?"

"Not that I know of," Petal agreed with a slow shake of her head. "I've never really wanted to go, that I can remember, anyway. It's not exactly the most peaceful place in the Galaxy these days for one, and for two... well, that's where someone I really don't like all that much has stationed himself. Hopefully we won't run into him."

Making a face, Cherry kept looking out the window for a minute before frowning and glancing at Petal. "You said that you don't ever spend much time is this area of the 'ships.' Didn't you mean 'ship?'"

Smiling a bit, Petal disagreed, "Nope, I meant 'ships.' I don't fly enough to have my own ship, so I end up with whichever basic package is available, usually. This is your average small troop transport ship, so it doesn't have much in the way of defense besides a force-shield. MTTS1 is their proper title, which stands for 'Multiple Troop Transport Size 1.' Most of the time when I fly one of these, I'm picking up injured soldiers who need care right away. Typically, they're brought to me at the HQ Hospital, but sometimes I'm the one to pick them up. It's nice to get 'out' and away from everything for a little bit, you know?"